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Friday, May 31, 2013

Aquaculture view

Aquaculture view is a column in each edition of International Aquafeed magazine (IAF), written by Dominique P Bureau.

Part of the IAF editorial panel, Dom has a PhD in Nutritional Sciences from the University of Guelph, Canada.

Today he teaches various undergraduate and graduate courses on animal nutrition and agriculture at the University of Guelph. Between 2007 and 2009, he coordinated the “Paris Semester”, a study abroad program for undergraduate students at the University of Guelph.

He serves on a number of international committees, including the US National Research Council Committee on Nutrient Requirements of Fish and Shrimp.

Nutrient requirement: elusive concept

In a context of significant competition and low profit margins, aquaculture feed manufacturers are required to formulate to increasing lower or narrower nutritional specifications (‘specs’) in order to minimize feed cost. Decreasing specs for certain nutrients (e.g. lysine, methionine, DHA, available phosphorus) can significantly reduce the cost of feeds. However, at the same time, feed manufacturers must be sure that their feeds can sustain high growth, feed efficiency, health, and product quality of the animals at the farm. Consequently, formulating cost-effective aquaculture feeds can be a very delicate balancing act that requires accurate and precise information on the nutritive value of feed ingredients (an issue that has been the focus of some of my past columns) and on the nutrient requirements of animals.

Significant efforts have been invested over the past six decades on the definition of the nutrient requirements of numerous fish and crustacean species and the body of knowledge is growing significantly every year. Reviews of the literature and nutritional recommendations are provided on a relatively regular basis by different groups of researchers or committee of experts.

Not blindly relying on published estimatesThe relatively new NRC (2011) 'Nutrient' Requirements of Fish and Shrimp and other reference documents are providing feed manufacturers with a reasonably good basis for the formulation of feeds meeting of requirements of many of the commercially important aquaculture species. However, through frequent discussions with different stakeholders of the aquaculture feed industry I have come to realise that these estimates of requirements are too often taken at face value and/or misunderstood. I believe that we should never blindly rely on published estimates of nutrient requirement, even from highly authoritative document. Feed formulators should dig in the primary research literature for the real data and develop their own opinion. Feed manufacturers should also focus a significant part of their R&D efforts toward verifying the adequacy and suitability of their nutritional specifications.

Nutrient requirement not cast in stoneEstimates of requirements are generally derived from studies with young fish fed diets containing purified and chemically defined ingredients that are highly digestible and, generally, represent minimum nutrient concentrations required for maximizing performance of these young animals under laboratory conditions. While this type of approach and definition of 'requirement' may sound relatively simple and straightforward, reality is a lot more complicated. Significant differences may exist in the experimental conditions (diet composition, experimental design, duration of study, fish trains, life stages), measured parameters (live weight gain, protein gain, enzyme activity, body stores, histological changes), performance achieved (growth rate, feed efficiency), and methods of analysis of the results for 'similar' studies. Consequently, very different 'estimates' of requirement can be derived from similar studies. Moreover, the same dataset (e.g. data from one single study) can also be interpreted in very different ways through the use of different mathematical models to analyse data or by simply putting more emphasis on different parameters (body stores vs live weigh gain vs enzyme activity). Defining a nutrient requirement value is not a straightforward thing.

It must be recognised that published estimates of nutrient requirement are derived from consensus among 'experts' and are thus very much products of opinion and not some sort of unchallengeable truth. It must also be recognised that requirements are probably moving targets and that pinning down one 'unique' and 'true' value is probably wishful thinking. However, how requirements evolve with changes in the genetic, weight, growth rate or feed conversion achieved, or health status of the animal is something that, in my humble opinion, has not been adequately studied for aquaculture species.

I strongly believe that the mode of expression of requirement is an issue that has not received sufficient attention. There are numerous diverging opinions with regards to appropriate modes of expression of essential nutrient requirements. It is especially the case for essential amino acid (EAA) for which very different modes of expression of requirement are used, often interchangeably, in the literature. These different modes of expression are based on different, often diametrically opposed, assumptions. In practice, the use of different modes of expression of EAA requirement can often result in dramatically different nutritional recommendations. Individual EAA levels deemed adequate may be very different depending on the mode of expression adopted and the composition of the diet formulated. This is a significant issue since feeds for a given species are formulated to widely different protein, lipid, starch, and digestible energy levels. The root cause of these conflicting views is our limited understanding of how endogenous and dietary factors affect EAA utilization and requirements of fish.

Finally, requirements are somewhat ideal biological values and it is also important to consider a reasonable safety margin to account for potentially lower digestibility or bioavailability of nutrients in practical ingredients, for losses of nutrients during manufacturing and storage of the feed, and for potential 'changes' in nutrient requirements imposed by various environmental or endogenous factors. What represents a reasonable safety margin is again something up for discussion.

Not enough emphasis on commercially important speciesAquaculture nutrition is a dynamic field of research. However, the number of fish and crustacean species studied is staggering and this leads to dilution of research efforts. Globally, there is need for significant improvements in the focus of nutritional studies, and the scope and quality of the experimental efforts invested in the definition of essential nutrient requirements of commercially important species. It would be recommendable to increasingly focus the research efforts on the 15 or so fish and crustacean species (e.g., Chinese carps, Indian major carps, Nile tilapia, Pangasid catfish, Atlantic salmon, Pacific white leg shrimp, etc.) that represent the bulk of the global farmed fish and crustacean production.

Any feedback? Do you agree or disagree? Any suggestions for future topics?Let me know. Email me at dbureau@uoguelph.ca, or leave a comment below.

A one-week Practical Short Course on Aquaculture Feed Extrusion, Nutrition and Feed Management will be presented on September 22-27, 2013 at Texas A&M University by staff, industry representative and consultants. This programme will cover information on designing new feed mills and selecting conveying, drying, grinding, conditioning and feed mixing equipment. Current practices for preparing full-fat soy meal processing; recycling fisheries by-products, raw animal products, and secondary resources; raw material, extrusion of floating, sinking, and high fat feeds; spraying and coating fats, digests and preservatives; use of encapsulated ingredients and preparation of premixes, nutritional requirements of warn water fish and shrimp, feed managements and least cost formulation are reviewed.

Practical demonstration of sinking, floating, and high fat aquafeed, are demonstrated on four major types of extruders - (dry, interrupted flights, single and twin screw), using various shaping dies. Other demonstrations include: vacuum coating and lab analysis of the raw material for extrusion. Reservations are accepted on a first-come basis.

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The fish feed supplier, BioMar, and the feed additives and specialty functional feed ingredients manufacturer, Lallemand SAS, have signed a formal research, development and commercial collaboration agreement aimed at expanding the knowledge and use of probiotics in fish feeding.

“This agreement is a natural continuation of the excellent relationship forged with Lallemand Animal Nutrition for more than 10 years, which has led to important innovative landmarks such as the approval for the first time of the use of a probiotic in fish feeding by the European Food Safety Authority - Lallemand’s BACTOCELL® for use in fish feed” said Mr Torben Svejgaard, CEO of the BioMar Group at the occasion of the sealing of their latest agreement.

BioMar has since 2010, when the first EFSA approval was given, been the only feed supplier to offer fish feed with BACTOCELL®. With the extension of the EU approval earlier this year to all fish species, BioMar has launched additional new products with BACTOCELL®. These include the highly successful LARVIVA ProStart targeted at early weaning for fish larvae, as well as other types of fish feed such as the INICIO Plus fry feed for Mediterranean fish species.

”Lallemand Animal Nutrition sees a natural ally in BioMar with both companies equally devoted to funding robust research and development aimed at effective commercialization of products” said Dr Yannig Le Treut, GM of Lallemand Animal Nutrition. “We are also both committed to seeking sufficiently high level of understanding and well documented support for the natural solutions we offer to our customers. BACTOCELL® is still the only zootechnical additive approved by the European Food Safety Authorities for use in fish feed, having unequivocally demonstrated beneficial animal performances.

Dr Le Treut added: “On the development stance, a partnership with BioMar gives us access to both trial facilities for fish feeding as well as access to the extensive network BioMar has among fish farmers; providing willing sites and capabilities to enable testing of new feed solutions in “real life” situations. This has proven to be very effective and beneficial e.g. in the approval of BACTOCELL® where laboratory results were subsequently confirmed in field trials under industrial production conditions.”

The current agreement consolidates an already substantial research and development collaboration between the two companies. “We have from both sides allocated significant amounts of resources in a bid to continue to fund research which provides tangible, natural and economic solutions with regards to optimizing fish health, nutrition and welfare. In particular and at the moment we are looking at the effects of probiotics on the microbiome and on gut function, which has been hypothesized to be linked to the prevention of viral and bacterial outbreaks”, voiced by Dr Patrick Campbell and Dr Mathieu Castex in charge of the joint R&D programmes.

The agreement grants BioMar an exclusivity partnership with Lallemand on the use of BACTOCELL® in fish feed in all the key markets where BioMar operates. “We see a huge potential for the use of probiotics in fish feed, and we are therefore of course extremely pleased with this collaboration, which will extend our lead with these kinds of products” says Mr Torben Svejgaard.Whilst the current agreement focuses on the use of probiotics, both Lallemand and BioMar admit that future agreements could extend to other areas of research, development, additives and animal categories of mutual interest. Lallemand Animal Nutrition already supplies several other important additives and ingredients to the fish feed industry and new actives are currently being evaluated in aquatic species.

Overfishing in the Senegal River has meant dwindling catches for fishermen but thanks to a publicly funded project, fishermen are turning their backs of the river and heading to the aquaculture pond.The National Agency for Agricultural Intervention and Development is a tilapia pond site in Maraye.At 25
hectares (62 acres), the Maraye ponds will be the largest fish farming site in Senegal with enough space for 50 private developers to start production in
July. The site is supplied with larvae and fry from the town of Richard Toll, which contains the
west African country's main hatchery.Read more...

This is an interesting blog post by Mark Seamon, Michigan State University Extension, on the role Michigan aquaculture can play in meeting increasing demand for seafood. One of the main challenges Seamon discusses is the cost of heating water to raise warm water species such as tilapia and shrimp. Informative and thought-provoking, it is worth a read.Read more...Global SeaFarms, Canada has announced changes to its management team. Effective immediately, Robert
Boisjoli will assume the position of Chief Executive Officer and Cameron
McDonald will assume the position of Executive Vice President of
Strategic Development. Also, Benoit Forget will assume the role of Chief
Financial Officer. The purpose of these changes is to align the
strengths and resources of the management team with the business
development initiatives of the Company going forward. Read more...

Thursday, May 30, 2013

The International Conference Water & Fish will be held for the sixth time from June, 12 - 14, 2013 at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade in Serbia.

Together with it a technical and technological exhibition will be organised. The objective of the exhibition is to improve business communication between producers, importer, and representatives of different companies with customers and users from Serbia and neighboring countries, with the goal to improve fish production.

Since Serbia is a country with great potential for aquaculture and fishery development, and also one of the rare countries in Europe that doubled its production in the last decade, we believe that you will identify your interest and take the opportunity to participate in the exhibition. Prices for exhibitors are almost symbolic; therefore this is an excellent occasion for you to present your range of products to fish producers.

Participants from 25 countries announced their presence at the scientific part of the conference; we expect participation of over 350 people (scientists, professionals, business men) during the 3 days. You can find details on the Conference and Exhibition, and accompanying programmes online.

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Fish oil might help fight type 2 diabetes but the link is unclear according to a study conducted at Harvard. Researchers analysed data from 14 studies involving 1,323 subjects to determine the effects
of fish oil supplements on diabetes risk factors. They found that fish oil was associated
with an increase in the level of the hormone adiponectin - which
effects glucose regulation and inflammation.

Land based salmon farming is not a viable alternative to open-net farming in the ocean says the Newfoundland and Labrador government. There had been calls to move the province's aquaculture facilities inland to prevent the spread of disease after farmed salmon was found in rivers on the Burin Peninsula. However, the government says that previous attempts to farm salmon inland has not been viable economically, environmentally or technically.Read more...

The results are in for the Aquarama fish competition which takes place this week at the Aquarama show. Aquarama is Asia's biggest ornamental fish show.

Check out these stunning images of an algae farm in Western Australia. Hutt Lagoon is about 14 km long by 2k m wide and around 1 m deep. Photographer, Steve Back took the pictures from above, showcasing the amazing pinky red algal blooms.

The micro-organisms produce beta-carotene, which has a multitude of applications including ice-cream and nutritional
supplements for pregnant women.

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Dominique P Bureau, a member of the International Aquafeed editorial panel, shares his thoughts on nutrient requirements.

Dominique P Bureau

In a context of significant competition and low profit margins, aquaculture feed manufacturers are required to formulate to increasing lower or narrower nutritional specifications (‘specs’) in order to minimize feed cost. Decreasing specs for certain nutrients can significantly reduce the cost of feeds. However, at the same time, feed manufacturers must be sure that their feeds can sustain high growth, feed efficiency, health, and product quality. Consequently, formulating cost-effective aquaculture feeds can be a very delicate balancing act that requires accurate and precise information on the nutritive value of feed ingredients and nutrient requirements.
Significant efforts have been invested over the past six decades on defining the nutrient requirements of numerous fish and crustacean species and the body of knowledge is growing significantly every year. Reviews of the literature and nutritional recommendations are provided on a relatively regular basis by different groups of researchers or committee of experts.Not blindly relying on published estimates
The relatively new NRC (2011) Nutrient Requirements of Fish and Shrimp and other reference documents are providing feed manufacturers with a reasonably good basis for the formulation of feeds meeting of requirements of many of the commercially important aquaculture species. However, through frequent discussions with different stakeholders of the aquaculture feed industry I have come to realise that these estimates of requirements are too often taken at face value and/or misunderstood.

We should never blindly rely on published estimates of nutrient requirement, even from highly authoritative document. Feed formulators should dig in the primary research literature for the real data and develop their own opinion. Feed manufacturers should also focus a significant part of their R&D towards verifying the adequacy and suitability of nutritional specifications.

Nutrient requirement not cast in stone
Estimates of requirements are generally derived from studies with young fish fed diets containing purified and chemically defined ingredients that are highly digestible and, generally, represent minimum nutrient concentrations required for maximizing performance of these young animals under laboratory conditions. While this approach and definition of ‘requirement’ may sound straightforward, reality is more complicated.

Significant differences may exist in the experimental conditions, measured parameters, performance achieved and methods of analysis of the results for similar studies. Consequently, very different ‘estimates’ of requirement can be derived from ‘similar’ studies. Moreover, the same dataset can also be interpreted in very different ways through the use of different mathematical models or by simply putting more ‘emphasis’ on different parameters.

It must be recognised that published estimates of nutrient requirement are derived from consensus among ‘experts’ and are thus very much products of opinion and not some sort of unchallengeable truth. It must also be recognised that ‘requirements’ are probably moving targets and that pinning down one ‘unique’ and ‘true’ value is probably wishful thinking. However, how requirements evolve with changes in the genetics, weight, growth rate or feed conversion achieved, or health status of the animal is something that, in my humble opinion, has not been adequately studied for aquaculture species.

There are diverging opinions with regards to appropriate modes of expression of essential nutrient requirements. It is especially the case for essential amino acid (EAA) for which very different modes of expression of requirement are used, often interchangeably, in the literature. These different modes of expression are based on different, often diametrically opposed, assumptions.

In practice, the use of different modes of expression of EAA requirement can often result in dramatically different nutritional recommendations. Individual EAA levels deemed adequate may be very different depending on the mode of expression adopted and the composition of the diet formulated. This is a significant issue since feeds for a given species are formulated to widely different protein, lipid, starch, and digestible energy levels. The root cause of these conflicting views is our limited understanding of how endogenous and dietary factors affect EAA utilization and requirements of fish.

Finally, requirements are somewhat ideal biological values and it is also important to consider a safety margin to account for potentially lower digestibility or bioavailability of nutrients in practical ingredients, for losses of nutrients during manufacturing and storage of the feed, and for potential ‘changes’ in nutrient requirements imposed by various environmental or endogenous factors. What represents a reasonable safety margin is again up for discussion. Not enough emphasis on commercially important species
Aquaculture nutrition is a dynamic field of research. However, the number of fish and crustacean species studied is staggering and this leads to dilution of research efforts. Globally, there is need for significant improvements in the focus of nutritional studies, and the scope and quality of the experimental efforts invested in the definition of essential nutrient requirements of commercially important species. It would be recommendable to increasingly focus the research efforts on the 15 or so species that represent the bulk of the global farmed fish and crustacean production.

Any feedback? Do you agree or disagree?
Any suggestions for future topics?
Let me know.
dbureau@uoguelph.ca

AquaBounty's GM salmon, AquAdvantage can breed with wild fish and pass on fast growth genes a study has found. In the wild, salmon will occasionally breed with similar species such as the brown trout, creating a hybrid fish.

The study, which is published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society the found that when GM salmon mated with brown trout, 40 percent of the resulting hybrids received accelerated growth genes from its GM parent. In fact, the hybrid fish outgrew both its parents. In laboratory conditions, the hybrids were out-competing their parents, significantly stunting
their growth.

However, AquaBounty has said that the chances of this happening is low as the fish it plans to raise are female, sterile and will be grown on-land.

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

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Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) today released the annual sustainability overview of fisheries used for fishmeal and fish oil. The overview covers the 28 principal reduction fisheries around the Atlantic Ocean and South America rated according to the sustainability assessment presented on FishSource (www.fishsource.com). The ratings are based on data publicly available in April 2013. The briefing can be found at www.sustainablefish.org.

The report shows that about 70 percent of fish from the Atlantic Ocean and South America used for fishmeal and fish oil come from relatively well managed stocks and would meet the current feed requirements of most leading aquaculture certifications. The other 30 percent of fish originate from 14 stocks that are not well managed, although only four of those were rated poorly on biomass – a crucial indicator of environmental impact.

The findings of the report are broadly consistent with those of previous years. SFP has calculated that almost half of all fish used for fishmeal and fish oil come from stocks that contain fishery improvement projects making good progress. This suggests that the performance of fishmeal and fish oil fisheries will improve over time.

The report also finds little evidence of ecosystem-based fisheries management being applied in a consistent and comprehensive fashion. The report recommends that fisheries that have mastered single-stock management should begin to consider the wider effects on marine food webs.

Commenting on the results of the report, Jim Cannon, CEO of Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, said:

“It is good news that a large proportion of fish from the Atlantic Ocean and South America used for fishmeal and fish oil come from relatively well managed fisheries. We are also very pleased that almost half the fish are from stocks that contain at least one fishery improvement project and we expect to see an increase in management performance in future years. However, it is disappointing that there is still little evidence of ecosystem-based fisheries management being applied within the sector and future reports will examine this question in greater detail.”

In summary, the briefing concludes that for Atlantic Ocean and South American reduction fisheries:

One stock featured in the survey scores 8 or above across all five FishSource criteria (category A – the top category): Atlantic herring – North Sea autumn spawners.

27.2% of the catch comes from stocks that score 6 or above in all criteria AND the score for biomass is 8 or above, meaning biomass is at or above target levels (category B1). These stocks are in very good shape, although may merit some improvements in management regime.

40.3% of the catch comes from stocks that score 6 or above across all five criteria but not 8 or above for biomass (category B2). These stocks are in good shape but would benefit from improvements in management regime.

30.6% of the catch comes from stocks that score below 6 on at least one of the criteria (category C). These stocks have not been effectively managed or are currently in bad condition and significant improvements are required.

Cumulatively, 69.4% of the catch comes from stocks that score 6 or above on all five criteria – this is broadly in line with the feed requirements of existing and proposed aquaculture feed sustainability standards.

Although 14 stocks are in category C, only 4 of these score less than 6 for biomass (score 4) – at least where data is available. Biomass is a crucial factor in determining the sustainability of fisheries management, so the relatively small number of stocks that score below 6 is to be welcomed.

Fishery improvement projects (FIPs) are present in 15 of the 28 stocks – 6 of these FIPs are making progress, while 9 are making insufficient progress in the opinion of SFP.

Four of the stocks assessed contain fisheries that are certified according to the Marine Stewardship Council or in full assessment. Twelve of the stocks are used as sources of fishmeal that is certified under the International Fishmeal and Fish Oil Organisation Responsible Supply (IFFO RS) program.

77% of the total catch comes from stocks that contain either at least one MSC-certified fishery or a FIP. 13% of the catch comes from a stock that contains at least one fishery that is MSC certified, 46.7% of the catch comes from stocks that contain at least one FIP that is making progress, 19.7% of the catch comes from stocks that contain at least one FIP that is making insufficient progress.

No reduction fish stock is currently managed within an ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM) regime. This situation needs to improve significantly. Fisheries that have established a successful single-species stock management regime should now be looking to evolve an ecosystem-based approach to ensure sustainability in the future.

We may think of aquaculture as a modern invention but records in the United Kingdom show that a form of fish farming was in action in 1522. This extract from city records in York details the stock at the ‘Pyke Garths’ in 1522. A garth was a small piece of enclosed
ground, and a fish-garth was an enclosure on a river or the seashore
for keeping fish. Fish included the familiar - salmon, eel and turbot - and the not so well known - trenches, bret and keelyngs.

Is there such as thing as the perfect feed? Researchers at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) are investigating the perfect feed for the red mahseer. This fish is heavily sought after by both anglers and food fanatics, making it one of the one of the most expensive fish in Malaysia. A kilo can fetch RM800 -1,200.

Finding the right food for this river dwelling creature has proved tricky. In the wild, the omnivorous fish feeds on fruit that has fallen into the water and small crustaceans; a diet which is hard to replicate in pellet form. However, the team at UPM is looking at protein, lipid, carbohydrate and other
requirements will launch a prototype early next year.

Indonesia and FAO will strengthen cooperation in the field of marine
affairs, fisheries and aquaculture under an agreement signed on May 27, 2013.
The three-year Memorandum of Agreement, which sets up a
framework for future joint activities in those sectors, was signed by
Indonesian Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Sharif C. Sutardjo
and by FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva, paying a three-day
official visit to Indonesia. Under the agreement, specific
arrangements will be made to increase cooperation in a number of areas
including sustainable fisheries and aquaculture development, marine
conservation and the prevention, deterrence and elimination of Illegal,
Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing.The agreement also
covers capacity building, education and training, research and the
exchange of experts - including through South-South cooperation - as
well as food safety. Indonesia is a prominent actor in South-South
cooperation and a member of the G20.

Friday, May 24, 2013

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Anant Bharadwaj of Novus International writes effective sources of dietary methionine for the turbot Psetta maxima.

The turbot Psetta maxima is an important cultured flatfish
species in Europe and now increasingly in China. Dietary formulations
for this species typically have been dependent on high levels of
fishmeal inclusion. Increasing costs and the decreasing availability of
fishmeal have necessitated lowering fishmeal levels and increasing plant
proteins in feed formulations.

The sea lice count numbers for April show levels in the
Okisollo/Hoskyn Channel area in Canada continue to be below the threshold for
treatment as required by regulation.

Okisollo Channel is located just north of Campbell River and is home
to five farms: two of Marine Harvest Canada’s, two of Mainstream
Canada’s and one operated by Grieg Seafood. Hoskyn Channel, on the east
side of Quadra Island has four Marine Harvest Canada sites. All three
companies have agreed to an area management plan for the channels.

These farms are well managed and highly regulated to ensure that wild
stocks migrating past these sites are protected, no matter how many of
the farms are operating. Sea lice numbers are monitored regularly and
show levels below the threshold levels for treatment as required by
regulation (see table below).

Cyrus Rocks was the only farm in the area in operation during the month of April.

The annual Alltech Symposium took place this week. The three-day series of lectures, this year entitled GLIMPSE2020 always throws up some interesting discussions on current trends and issues in agriculture.

Leading off the Wednesday plenary session at GLIMPSE 2020 was Becky
Timmons, Alltech’s director of applications research and quality assurance. Timmons shared Alltech’s vision in investing $200 million to
develop a heterotrophic algae production facility in Winchester,
Kentucky. Using this closed-system technology, algae growth is rapid
and efficient under tightly controlled conditions, ensuring an
end-product that is highly consistent, traceable, and protected by the
Alltech Quality System. More information...

Aquaponics is one of the industry buzzwords at the moment so it was great to see this subject given the Alltech treatment during the Farming the Sea Farming
the Sea session. Charlie Shultz from Kentucky State University discussed the
explosion of interest in aquaponics and what that technology holds for
the future. Check it out here.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

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on an in-depth understanding of our customer’s needs and concerns, enables us to
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There are many pelleting and extrusion options in aquafeed production and all these choice will have an effect on the end product. Doris Du, Allance Machinery, China, gives her insight into the pelleting process.

Aquaculture is a developing activity around the world. As the
industry grows, so does the aquafeed market. Aquafeeds are comprised of a
number of ingredients that are mixed in various proportions to
complement one another to form a nutritionally complete compound diet.
According to the physical characteristics, they can be divided into
powder, particle, pelleted and extrusion aquafeed. They can also be
divided into sinking, slow sinking and floating aquafeed according to
their buoyancy. On the basis of aquafeed energy, they can be divided
into low energy, medium energy and high-energy aquafeeds.

Halibut is a not a species we feature often on this blog so I was really pleased to find this story about a halibut farm on Gigha, an island off the Mull of Kintyre, Scotland.

The tanks and seawater pumps were originally intended for a salmon farm but now are home to 6,000 halibut. The farm can be classed as an aquaculture success story. Low stocking densities mean the vet and medicine bills and low.

Smoked Gigha halibut was introduced to the market 18 months ago and has even made its way on to the menu at the Raymond Blanc's Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons. However, quality fish comes at a price. At £12 a kilo, Gigha halibut is not cheap, though so far, consumers seems willing to pay more for a premium product.

The governor of Wisconsin, USA, Scott Walker, has announced plans to increase the numbers of walleyes in the state by expanding production at state, private, and
tribal fish hatcheries.

Walleyes are the state's
most popular game fish natural reproduction in lakes
isn't keeping up with demand.

The Wisconsin Walleye Initiative includes $8.2 million to expand hatchery capacities and $160,000 the University of Wisconsin Extension to continue its work
with private aquaculture through the end of Fiscal Year 2014.

Under this initiative, production is estimated to
increase from 60,000-120,000 large walleye fingerlings to well over
500,000 by 2016.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

The BioMar group is one of the leading
suppliers of high performance fish feed to the aquaculture industry. The
main business areas are feed for salmon and trout in Norway, the
United Kingdom, and Chile, and feed for trout, eel, sea-bass, and
sea-bream in Continental Europe. Click on the image to visit the BioMar website.

The Indiana Soybean Alliance, USA (ISA) is investigating the possibility of creating a feed mill dedicated to producing
fish feed to Indiana with the aim of creating a new market for Hoosier
soybean farmers.

The ISA, the state soybean checkoff organisation,
received a Value-Added Producer Grant from the U.S. Department of
Agriculture earlier this month to conduct a feasibility study on
locating a feed mill focusing on aquaculture feeds in Indiana.

"Aquaculture is a promising and growing market for our soybeans and our
board is committed to supporting this industry within the state as we
continue to look to help build strong markets for our soybeans."

A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences, USA (PNAS) has concluded that for fisheries
policies to be effective they must consider research data on
the patterns and dynamics of fish trade, markets and user consumption.

The report argues that if world fish stocks are to contribute effectively to food and
nutrition security in the developing world, the fisheries sector needs better governance
and management.

The Federation of Indian Fishery Industries, India (FIFI) has asked the Union Government to set up a separate ministry for fisheries. At present, fisheries fall under the of the Ministry of Agriculture but the FIFI argues that industry is suffering under this governance.

The Ninth Symposium of the World’s Chinese Scientists on Nutrition and Feeding of Finfish and Shellfish (SWCSNFFS) will be held on November 12-16, 2013 in Xiamen, China.

Since the first SWCSNFFS in Guangzhou (1992) organized by Professor Ding Lin of Sun Yat-Sen University and Dr. Jan-Lung Chuang of Taiwan, seven more symposiums have been subsequently held in Qingdao (1995), Shanghai (1998), Wuhan (2001), Zhuhai (2004), Qingdao (2006), Beijing (2008) and Chengdu (2011). The SWCSNFFS is the largest gathering for global Chinese aquaculture nutritionists, from academia to industry, and is one of the world’s leading communications platforms for discussion of updated achievements in aquatic animal nutrition and feed. SWCSNFFS has therefore gained the attention and interest of researchers worldwide.

The development of aquaculture in China mirrors the development of the field worldwide. China’s aquaculture production accounts for more than 70 percent of the world’s production, largely attributable to the rapid development of aquatic animal nutrition and feed technology in China.

In 2011, aquafeed production in China reached 16.52 million tons, ranking first in the world. However, the use of formulated feed in China is still not widespread compared to its rapid aquaculture growth. China is a big country in aquatic feed production, but far from a power. It still lags behind the developed countries in the research and development of aquatic animal nutrition and feed technology. The aims of the SWCSNFFS, therefore, are to continually provide a platform to bridge the communication between academic and industry circles in order to accelerate the development of aquatic feed technology; strengthen the cooperation among industry, academy and research; and prompt the sustainable and healthy development of the aquatic feed industry.

Xiamen, declared one of China’s first Special Economic Zones in the early 1980s, is an island city with a rich and dramatic history stemming from its heritage of being a trading centre and from its proximity to Taiwan. Xiamen is also an economic center in the West Coast of Taiwan Strait, as well as one of the 15 sub-provincial cities in China and a well-known tourist port city in the Southeast coast. It has been described as a 'Garden of the Ocean'.

The city has received many recognitions and awards, such as the Cleanest City of China, the Garden City of China, the National Environmental Protection Model City, and the Best Sightseeing City in China. Xiamen is also known for its temperate weather, fast and convenient transportation and communication channels, and excellent accommodations. More than ten million tourists are attracted to Xiamen every year for the enjoyment and appreciation of its culture and beauty every year. The 9th SWCSNFFS will be held at Xiamen.

The theme of this symposium is 'low-carbon, high-efficiency, cooperation and innovation'. Furthermore, a Forum on Technology Cooperation and Mutual Benefit for Aquafeed Enterprises will take place during this symposium. The managers of prestigious international aquafeed enterprises, R&D project management experts, recognized scientists and scholars will be invited to discuss the emerging problems and hot issues facing the technical innovation of aquafeed enterprises.

The 9th SWCSNFFS will provide a platform for all the participants to communicate and share their scientific research achievements, strengthening the cooperation of industry, academy and research. We look forward to the success of the 9th SWCSNFFS symposium. On behalf of the conference organising committee, we would like to invite you to attend the symposium. We welcome and greatly appreciate sponsorships from enterprises and governments.

Aquaculture is one of
the fastest growing industries in food production. However, the future of this
growth will depend largely on availability of raw materials and development of
new nutrient sources from vegetable or animal origin.

One of the essential nutrients
for shrimp is cholesterol. Driven by the increasing scarcity of conventional
sources of cholesterol, Sonac recently developed Phosterol. This hydrolyzed
protein of animal origin is produced in accordance with all relevant EU
regulations and is readily available from renewable natural sources. The
uniqueness of Phosterol lies in the natural combination of cholesterol and
phospholipids. This is backed by trials on shrimp that have shown a strong
synergy between cholesterol and phospholipids, the two main components of
Phosterol.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Arvotec is targeting global markets with an adjustable multi-purpose
feeding system for fish farming. The company has many years' experience
in feeding automation and practical fish farming and for several years it has developed a computer-based control system for fish farming. This
has resulted in a product which simultaneously controls feeding, takes
the necessary measurements and warns of unexpected changes. Click on the image to visit the Arvotec website.

With the Scottish Aquaculture & Fisheries Bill reaching Stage 3 of the parliamentary process, we take a look at aquaculture in Scotland.

UK supermarket Sainsbury's has admitted mislabelling farmed Scottish salmon. The admission comes after the Salmon and Trout (STA)
made a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority and Trading
Standards over the provinance of Sainsbury's Taste the Difference range
of salmon.

The fish were labelled as being from “fast-flowing
sea-water locations off the isles of Skye, Lewis and Uist”, but were in
fact from Loch Fyne, on the Scottish mainland.

Marine
Harvest, Scotland is seeking ASC certification for its. The company has
. However, the company is realistic about the time it will take for all
its farms to reach ASC standards. Alan Sutherland, managing director,
Marine Harvest, Scotland hopes all Marine Harvest Farms will be
certified by 2020.

Three researchers at the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS)
UHI have been recognised for their contribution to the University of the
Highlands and Islands. Professors Angela Hatton, Keith Davidson and
Kenneth Black have been awarded personal chairs (professorships) by the
institution. Personal chairs are one of the highest professional
accolades in academia. The university has also awarded the eminent
Cambridge-based oceanographer, Michael Meredith, an honorary
professorship.

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